Dentists cannot overemphasize the importance of regularly using dental floss to clean the areas between the teeth. Dental floss holders have been developed in the past to make regular flossing easier and more effective. One prior art dental floss holder is sold by John O. Butler Co. under the trademark FlossMate. This device is shaped as a fork with an elongated handle and two semi-rigid, narrow elongated and somewhat downwardly curved legs extending in front of the handle. A piece of dental floss is held by the dental floss holder by wrapping one end of the floss around a post on the handle and then extending the floss over one leg, spanning the distance between the ends of the legs, then extending it back along the other leg, and wrapping it around the post. The portion of the dental floss piece which spans the ends of the legs is held somewhat in tension, and this portion of the floss is used for cleaning the spaces between the teeth. The present invention is based on a recognition of several disadvantages of this prior art dental floss holder. For instance, the portion of the floss held between the legs of the holder can become loose during use. If the ends of the floss break off, or if the floss becomes frayed, it takes additional time to sever an additional length of floss and rewind it on the post and around the ends of the fork. In addition, a substantial amount of dental floss is wasted by the unused length of floss which extends along both sides of the fork and around the post in order to hold the floss on the holder.
The present invention provides a dental floss applicator which overcomes these problems.